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Monday, October 21, 2013

Go Anywhere Bag finish

Finally! A finish! It's been too long since I had one of those. And even better — it's for me! I finally finished my fall bag, another rendition of the Go Anywhere Bag. I've made this bag once before for my mom, and I've been itching to make one for myself ever since.

The pattern is from Anna Graham of the Noodlehead blog, and like everything she does, I can't recommend it enough. The bag has one big pocket on the backside and three pleated pockets on the front. Love the pockets and love those little blue birds.

There's also a handy slip pocket inside, which I separated into pen and phone pockets. Instead of the Velcro or magnetic snaps the pattern recommends, I decided to use my snap setter to install small plastic snaps. The heavy magnetic snaps often end up annoying me, so I liked that the plastic snaps would give me an option to have a snap if I wanted it but would mostly stay out of my way. You can see the little white snaps (barely) in the next two pics.

The straps are the perfect width and heft (thanks to the interfacing), and I love the suggestions Anna makes for doing triple topstitching on the handles and double topstitching everywhere else. It makes the finished product look more professional, and it feels sturdier. No split seams here!

I'm so pleased with how the bag turned out. It's just the right size, with plenty of room (and pockets!) for everything I haul around but without feeling bulky or heavy. The bird fabric is called Flock of Birds (from Get Together by David Walker). I originally bought it several years ago with baby gifts in mind but kept holding on to it because I loved it so much. Looks like you can still find it here. The gray fabric was from IKEA (previously seen in the other Go Anywhere Bag), and the lining is White, Navy, and Lime Sprigs from the fabulous Simply color collection.

Now I just need to finish up the coordinating zipper pouch, and I'll be set.

P.S. If you're reading this in a reader, click on over to the main site. I've been doing a little fall cleaning/sprucing up, so check out the new header and recently revamped Baking and Quilting pages. Hope you like them!

A note about Pinterest: I encourage you to pin photos of projects I've done and tutorials I've written, but please do not pin photos of my son and always be sure to link back to the original source (that's me). Thanks!